Thursday, August 14, 2008

Readers will
know that despite having a deeply held contempt of the parasitic
slave-owning classes (politicians), your Beloved GT has a deeply held
faith in the ability of an important subset of humans who are
constantly doing smart stuff that winds up saving us all from some or
other disaster, or that simply makes our lives better.

Most humans do dumb stuff far too willingly - like
handing over half of what we earn to the aforementioned slave-masters
(and then paying indirect taxes when we spend the other half).

It is true that if you refuse to hand over the scratch, they
send armed thugs to kidnap and imprison you, and if you resist the
armed thugs you will be
subdued and if necessary, killed outright. Just exactly
like a runaway slave.

But still, most of the human livestock don't think of taxation
in that way, and are just too bovine to resist in any organised way. So
it is left to the Remnant to continue to do Isaiah's Job. (Thank
goodness we don't have to do Ezekiel's
job and eat shit sandwiches).

So lif' dat
barge, an' tote dat bale, Rastus, coz'n you is a field
negro even if you doesn't blee'dat.

Anyhow - like I said... I have a genuine faith in the ability
of the Remnant to give our species the last big push to transcendance;
after the final development of AI and nanotech-assemblers, we will be
free to decide to exchange our meatbags for something far more
versatile, more adapted to hostile environments, and with a sharper
colour scheme.

Anf I say "piffle" (yes... piffle)
to all the nanny-state naysayers who worry that like SkyNet in the
Terminator movies (or like papal legate Arnaud Amaury at the siege of
Beziers), a hyper-advanced AI will try to kill us all.

All screenwriters have to keep the social structure
broadly in line with what we currently experience,
because otherwise audiences must adapt to a different social
and economic reality in real-time, and that makes it difficult to
transmit plot and develop drama.

That is why SG1 is always up against humanoids who speak
English and come from societies that retain a State apparatus, and why
- even at distant points in the future where AI and nanotech would most
certainly have been developed - war and conflict is endemic and is
almost always politically motivated.

So the "SkyNet will see us as a threat and kill us all"
crowd are thinking that AI will behave like politicians - that
is, that an AI would decide that its best course of action would be to
sacrifice efficiency in order to perpetuate a state of exploitation
over a captive populace. Any AI that did that would be missing the 'I'
part, because efficiency
is all that matters, and resource acquisition through conquest is just
not efficient.

You can only behave like a politician if your livestock don't
get uppity: try herding lions and see how profitable that is
for ya.

But back to markets...

Major Market Indices

The broad market - the All Ordinaries (XAO)
- advanced modestly, rising 44 points (0.88%), finishing at 5039.9
points. The index hit an intraday high of 5110.3 at 12:18 pm, while the
low for the day was 4995.9 - the vestige of yesterday's close.

Total volume traded on the ASX was 1.18bn units, 2.4% below
its 10-day average (the average is falling to meet volume, rather than
the other way around). The ASX's daily listing of all stocks included
1254 different 3-letter FPO's which traded (i.e., had non-zero trade
volume). Of these, 512 issues rose, with volume in rising issues
totalling 506.5m units; decliners numbered 467 counters, and between
them they traded aggregate declining volume of 543.9m shares.

Of the 494 All Ordinaries components, 227 rose while 182 fell.
Volume was tilted in favour of the losers by a margin of 1.1:1, with
413.31m shares traded in gainers while 437.49m shares traded in the
day's losers. This is part of a broader lack of consistent internals -
market breadth is seldom bullish these days, even on days when the
price action seems bullish. Of which, more later... the stuff we've put
together on breadth is really something special (as you will see "going
forward", as they no longer say in the consulting cesspits of the
globe).

The Index that forms the cash basis for the SFE's Share Price
Index Futures - the S&P/ASX 200 (XJO)
- posted a modest rise of 30.6 points (0.62%), closing out the session
at 4982.2 points.

The "heavy hitters" of the Australian market - the ASX
20 Leaders (XTL)
- advanced by under half a percent, adding 8.8 points (0.31%), closing
out the session at 2832.9 points.

The 20 stocks which make up the index traded a total of
173.06m units; 5 index components rose, with rising volume amounting to
25.7m shares, while the 15 decliners had volume traded totalling
147.36m units... Yowza, that's some pretty skewed breadth, huh! It's
pretty easy to explain though - the Resources majors that bounced are a
decent chunk of the aggregate market cap of the XTL, and they bounced
pretty damn hard...

Westfield Group (WDC),
-$0.62 (3.75%) to $15.90 on volume of 7.6 million shares;

St George Bank Limited (SGB),
-$1.12 (3.68%) to $29.31 on volume of 2.2 million shares; and

CSL Limited (CSL),
-$1.25 (3.21%) to $37.75 on volume of 5.3 million shares.

At the other end of the market-cap spectrum lie the denizens
of the ASX Small Ordinaries (XSO)
- the place where non-mania excess returns lie. The Small Ords
performed solidly, in moving up 49.4 points (1.79%), closing out the
session at 2815.3 points. Resources werethe key reason, with big
bounces in small cap exploration stocks.

Among the stocks that make up the Small Caps index, 104 index
components finished to the upside, and of the rest, 74 closed lower for
the session. For a day with such a big headline move, that breadth is
not really wholesome. The volume breadth was a little more
positive.

The 195 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 285.58m units:
volume in the 104 gainers totalling 169.55m shares, with trade
totalling 94.63m units in the index's 74 declining components. The
major percentage gainers within the index were

PanAust Ltd (PNA),
+$0.12 (18.85%) to $0.73 on volume of 15.7 million shares;

Market Breadth

GICS Industry Indices

Among the 11 industry indices, 4 registered an advance for the
session, the remaining 7 lost ground.

The best performing index - thanks of course to the very
bounce in global oil prices, and the correction of a deeply oversold
condition in the index's components - was Energy (XEJ),
which added 773.9 points (4.8%) to 16907.4 points. The 17 stocks which
make up the index traded a total of 53.5m units; all index components
rose. Those with the biggest percentage gain for the day were

Second in the index leadership stakes was Materials
(XMJ),
which gained 578.9 points (4.57%) to 13238.7 points. Again, a Resources
story first and foremost.

The 42 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 212.6m
units; 32 index components rose, with rising volume amounting to
187.86m shares, while the 6 decliners had volume traded totalling
13.55m units. The major percentage gainers within the index were

PanAust Ltd (PNA),
+$0.12 (18.85%) to $0.73 on volume of 15.7 million shares;

The bronze medal for today goes to Consumer Staples
(XSJ),
which climbed 19.9 points (0.27%) to 7374 points; pretty tame by
comparison with the Energy and Resources sectors... Consumer Staples is
the Bread and Cakes of the market.

The 11 stocks which make up the index traded a total of 31.9m
units; 6 index components rose, with rising volume amounting to 9.24m
shares, while the 5 decliners had volume traded totalling 22.66m units.
The major percentage gainers within the index were

The worst-performed index for the session was Information
Technology (XIJ),
which dipped 20 points (3.74%) to 514.3 points. The 2 stocks which make
up the index traded a total of 2.37m units; CPU, which is 70-odd
percent of the index, fell 4% plus, and traded 2.25m units,
and volume in the lone rising index component was 0.12m shares

Computershare Limited (CPU),
-$0.41 (4.33%) to $9.05 on volume of 2.2 million shares.

Just missing out on the wooden spoon was Property
Trusts (XPJ),
which slid 41.8 points (2.97%) to 1365.8 points. The 21 stocks which
make up the index traded a total of 155.48m units; The 14 decliners had
volume traded totalling 111.16m units, and 5 index components rose,
with rising volume amounting to 28.62m shares, The major percentage
decliners within the index were

Third-to-last amongst the sector indices was Healthcare
(XHJ),
which slid 205.5 points (2.23%) to 8994.4 points. The 8 stocks which
make up the index traded a total of 10.94m units; The 6 decliners had
volume traded totalling 9.08m units, and 2 index components rose, with
rising volume amounting to 1.86m shares, The major percentage decliners
within the index were

CSL Limited (CSL),
-$1.25 (3.21%) to $37.75 on volume of 5.3 million shares;